60th Anniversary of Men of the TreesPrint Page

The memorial commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Men of the Trees whose members brought 600 trees to Cook to be planted with Cook school children. The Men of the Trees was founded by Mr. Richard St. Barbe Baker in Kenya in 1922. 

Trees for soil conservation; trees for flood control; trees for the tempering of weather; trees for beauty for shade; for industry; and trees fostered for their calming influence on the affairs of men! This is the burden of the plea made by Mr. Richard St Barbe Baker, of London, founder of the "Men of the Trees."  The "Men of the Trees" says the "Christian Science Monitor was founded by Mr. Baker in the summer of 1922, when, as assistant conservator of forests for the British Government in Kenya Colony, his work bought him in contact with an African tribe which moved from district to district burning forests to make temporary clearings.

To change these forest destroyers into forest conservors he organised the "Wata Wa Miti," or "Men of the Trees, " taught them to plant trees and instructed them in the first precepts of the Boy Scout movement.  Today he reports these former forest vandals are vying with one another in rehabilitating the forests and doing "one good deed each day." From this romantic beginning the society has spread until it is generally known throughout the world, and whereeer it is found-in Africa, England or Palestine the object is always the same: to develop a "tree sense" in every citizen and to encourage all to plant, protect, and love their native growth.
Argus (Melbourne, Vic.),  28 December 1929.

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